One of my favorite childhood summer activities was the Northern Maine Fair. More than just rides and games, our local country fair had a farm animal petting zoo, tasty treats, a demolition derby, and an expo hall showcasing agriculture, arts and crafts, floral arrangements and more.

The best part of the expo hall was the opportunity to enter items for display and judging. For most categories they had a children’s or junior’s division, though in some areas adults and kids competed on the same footing. I won countless ribbons – including a few blue – and was awarded the monetary prizes that went with them.Continue reading »

It’s always exciting when My Little Pony DVDs arrive at our house from our friends at Shout! Factory. I try to make each new release special by making a yummy treat or fun craft that matches the theme. So when I saw Pinkie Pie holding a bowl of popcorn on the back of the MLP Equestria Girls: Magical Movie Night DVD, the idea for Pinkie Pie’s Party Popcorn immediately came to mind.

Bubbles is very excited that her new cousin loves My Little Pony, too. We plan to invite her down soon for a Magical Movie Night of our own. We’ll definitely be serving up more of Pinkie Pie’s Party Popcorn – our first batch disappeared, well, like magic!Continue reading »

Happy 4th of July! Hope your Independence Day was as fun-filled as ours.

Started off the morning attending a local parade. I hadn’t been to a small-town parade in over a decade, so it was definitely fun to check this one out. Bubbles hadn’t been to a parade like this before, either, and she was very excited to see what it was all about.Continue reading »

Thank you to SheSpeaks and Prudential for sponsoring this post and helping me share financial planning for women and some of the investment challenges women are facing.

Early in my professional career I had the good fortune to get to know one of my coworkers, Andy. Andy was only a few years older than myself but he knew more about mapping out future goals than I did.

He encouraged me to start investing right away, to utilize the company match to my 401k. I was thankful for his advice as “investing 101″ isn’t something they taught in school back then. I started off strong – participating in the company match, doing research, reading prospectuses, the whole nine yards.Continue reading »

On the second to last day of school, Bubbles brought home some paperwork on local kids summer reading programs. I knew about some of the national ones – we’ve participated in those for a few years – but had no idea they did them at the local level.

I’m fortunate that Bubbles loves to read and needs no encouragement to do so. But I know not all kids feel the same and the fun and rewards from these free kids summer reading programs may be just the ticket to entice them into a break from screen time.Continue reading »

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Copyright 2009-2013, Views From the 'Ville. All rights reserved. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship or other compensation. This blog may contain affiliate links within posts. All opinions shared are the honest opinion of myself and my family. Others' experiences may differ. Views From the 'Ville is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com